“Justice Delayed is Justice Denied”: Historically High Criminal Case Backlog in Harris County
Originally published on Inside Policy & Politics on Chron.com on July 19, 2021.
Written by Sumaya Siddiqui
Sumaya is an inaugural Harris Fellow and is working in the communications office of Judge Lina Hidalgo.
Harris County is currently facing the highest criminal case backlog in its history. As the Harris County criminal justice system struggled to overcome the toll that Hurricane Harvey took on its courts, the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic only further exacerbated its problems. The recent increase in violent crime in Harris County is likely tied to this delay in justice, as many suspects of pending felony cases are still out on the streets. Facing the backdrop of increasing crime rates, Harris County Judge Hidalgo stated, “My family left the country I was born in because of public safety threats. I take it very seriously.” Under the leadership of Judge Hidalgo, Harris County elected officials are now implementing new policy changes in hopes of tackling the backlog.
There are two types of courts that deal with criminal cases within Harris County, the County Criminal Courts and the District Criminal Courts. Cases in the court’s backlog are those that have been pending beyond the established “time-to-disposition standard”, meaning they are not resolved before the standard time it should take to process a case. For instance, according to the National Center for State Courts’ Model Time Standards, 98% of cases in County Criminal Courts should be disposed of within 180 days of filing or arrest, and 98% of cases in District Criminal Courts should be disposed of within 365 days of filing or arrest. To put things in perspective, in pre-Harvey County Criminal Courts, there were 17,680 pending misdemeanor cases, while there are now approximately 41,000 pending. Additionally, there were 20,494 pre-Harvey felony cases pending in District Criminal Courts, and currently there are over 54,000 cases pending. In Harris County, there are about 95,000 total cases pending, marking a 40% increase in the pending caseload since 2017. Of these pending cases, there are about 20,743 misdemeanor cases older than 180 days, and 19,391 felony cases older than 365 days. This means that 42% of the total pending cases classify as being in the “backlog”.
In order to begin decreasing this backlog, courts would need to have a clearance rate consistently above 100%, meaning that the number of cases disposed must exceed the number of new cases filed. Realistically, this is very difficult to achieve as the past annual clearance rates averaged 68% in County Criminal Courts and 52% in District Criminal Courts. As the rate fails to reach 100% or more, new filed cases continue to outnumber disposed cases leading to an ever growing amount of pending criminal cases in the county.
After calls to action from the Justice Management Institute (JMI) in June 2020, the courts began utilizing technology to conduct hearings virtually and added multiple Emergency Response Dockets which effectively allowed the criminal district courts to hold more jury trials than Dallas, Bexar, Travis, and Tarrant County combined. Even so, these efforts failed to put a dent in the criminal case backlog.
In the face of this dilemma, Harris County officials held a press conference on June 28 to unveil the actions they would consider taking in the upcoming Commissioners Court meeting the next day. The press conference featured County Judge Lina Hidalgo, Commissioner Adrian Garcia, County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, and Houston Police Department Executive Chief Matt Slinkard. Judge Hidalgo stated, “Justice delayed is justice denied. Denied for victims of crime and denied for those accused of crime.” She further added that this issue is extremely important because “when serious cases aren’t adjudicated quickly, it creates a sense that the government isn’t doing its part…it makes victims feel ignored, it makes perpetrators feel empowered, and it makes those innocent not be able to face justice.”
Judge Hidalgo went on to outline the four major items of the $17 million proposal to combat the criminal court backlog. The first proposition was to add six associate judges to assist the 22 Criminal District Courts to reduce the backlog. Judge Hidalgo later stated that “the associate judges would tackle the most violent cases that have been in the backlog for the longest.” The second proposal was to approve half a million dollars to expand jury operations at NRG, and the third was to approve funding for visiting judges who would assist the associate judges and district court judges to move through the backlog. Lastly, and most significantly, they would consider a proposal by Commissioner Adrian Garcia to make an investment in law enforcement technology. Judge Hidalgo explained that this final aspect is critical as technology such as body cameras can provide video evidence which is often “the most key evidence in a case, and cases cannot be disposed of without the production of this video evidence.” She further added that currently, it takes six months for body camera video from county law enforcement agencies to be provided to prosecutors and defense attorneys due to outdated body camera systems. According to the Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, outdated body camera technology is often to blame in cases where prosecutors experience delays.
On June 29, the bi-partisan Commissioners Court unanimously passed items on the new public safety plan which would add six associate judges, expand jury operations at NRG, and fund visiting judges. However, Commissioner Garcia’s $14.8 million proposal to update police technology, including body camera technology for law enforcement officers, did not come up for a vote.
As the cases in the criminal case backlog continue piling up, and crime rates rapidly increase, Harris County is in a dire situation. In order to regain balance within the county’s criminal justice system, it is imperative that the passed items are quickly implemented, and that the proposal for improved law enforcement technology is considered and approved by the Commissioners Court as soon as possible. Realistically, even with these new measures in place, it may be years before the courts’ caseloads are manageable. As time progresses, Harris County’s Commissioners Court must be held accountable by providing key updates to the public, and enacting further creative solutions and policy changes as needed to ensure that it is taking all possible actions to reduce crime and bring justice to its residents.
The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author.
Sources:
Court case figured are sourced from a memo from the Harris County Justice Administration Department titled: Recommendations to Address the Criminal Case Backlog in Harris County, sent on June 24th, 2021
Video:
Press Conference Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/harriscountyprecinct2/videos/1018493668958230/
Press Conference Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx0J-R9eySY
Commissioner’s Court Recap (Criminal Backlog Recap 1:40-2:50): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ai1PduuAKk